The lawyer for an Ancaster, Ont. man accused of participating in a massive plot to hack Yahoo email accounts in 2014, says extradition proceedings for his client are taking longer because U.S. President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
Amedeo DiCarlo said Friday that American officials and the RCMP have still not provided disclosure on the allegations against his client, Karim Baratov.
"I received a call from the RCMP yesterday, indicating that they're going to probably need another three months before they release any other material," DiCarlo told CTV News Toronto.
The 22-year-old is accused by the FBI of assisting three Russian nationals, including two active members of the Russian Federal Security Bureau, in the hack of Yahoo email accounts in 2014.
As many as 500 million individual accounts were impacted.
DiCarlo said they cannot set a date to meet to schedule the start of his extradition proceedings until June 16.
He told CTV News Toronto that President Donald Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey on May 9 has “held up proceedings” against his client.
Baratov was arrested on March 15 and denied bail a month later after the Crown argued he was a flight risk, could easily access several online bank accounts, along with fake IDs, and that his parents willfully turned a blind eye to his lavish lifestyle pior to his arrest.
An appeal of that decision will be heard on June 5. DiCarlo explained it is possible his client could surrender himself to U.S. authorities on his own if he is granted bail.
"When he is out he can make better decisions," DiCarlo said. "If we need to go to the U.S., I could transer him myself."
